


Untangled

by Angel Ascending (angel_in_ink)



Series: Incubus 'Verse [8]
Category: Game Grumps, jacksepticeye, markiplier - Fandom
Genre: Anal Sex, Angel!Mark, Biting, Blood, Blowjobs, First Time, Human sexual organs are so interesting!, Incubus!Anti, Incubus!Arin, Incubus!Dark, Incubus!Jack, Lots of Poking Around with Souls, M/M, Spider!Suzy - Freeform, Violence, Wing Kink
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-12
Updated: 2017-08-13
Packaged: 2018-10-31 03:41:06
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 14,520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10890945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angel_in_ink/pseuds/Angel%20Ascending
Summary: Having Anti inside him is really taking a toll on Jack, and Mark is worried. Can Suzy untangle Anti's soul from Jack's before it's too late?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So this is going to take a little explaining. See, this is a continuation of a plot that was set up in Down the Many Winding Paths, specifically ending number 6: Tangled Up In You, where Suzy says she's going to untangle Anti's soul from Jack's. Here's the chapters to get to that ending if you need to read (or re-read) it: Chapters 1, 4, 6, 7 or 9, 15, 17, 18, 20, and 23. I really recommend reading that path before reading this fic. More tags will be added when I add more chapters.

It was raining in the Gardens of Eternal Dusk. The rain that had been falling on the rose path when Mark had set out for Jack’s place had been warm, a spring rain. Mark hadn’t minded walking in it, feeling the water slide down his skin. After all these years, he was still in love with the sensations that a human form could experience. Then he had stepped on the black path and the warm rain had changed to an icy sleet and that had been less pleasant. For what was probably the hundredth time, Mark wished that Jack hadn’t moved out here. The isolation wasn’t good for him, and the landscape itself was downright depressing. He shivered as the wind blew through the branches of a dead tree, the limbs making a sound like bones rubbing together.

Heck with it. Mark thought of Jack’s living room and then he was there, faster than a mortal could blink. He shivered, rain dripping off his feathers to puddle on the floor. The house was dark and cold, no fire in the fireplace. Maybe Jack was out feeding on someone? Mark hoped so, the incubus didn’t eat nearly enough, and Mark didn’t understand why. Granted, angels didn’t have to eat, strictly speaking, and when they did they didn’t eat sexual energy, but eating was pleasant. He knew sex quieted Anti down and made Jack feel better, so why not do it more often?

“Jack? Are you here?”

Or maybe Jack was sleeping, though that wasn’t likely. Anti liked to talk, keeping Jack up until Jack was so exhausted that he couldn’t help but sleep so deeply that Anti could easily take him over. Restraining Jack’s body while he slept hadn’t worked either, Anti could glitch himself out of ropes and chains with no problem.

One of the few things that helped Jack cope with Anti was angel tears, and that’s why Mark was here, to bring Jack a fresh supply. Well, not the only reason. Mark liked seeing Jack, though he couldn’t help remembering Jack the way he had been before Anti had shown up. He missed the perpetually smiling, bouncing with energy Jack, but Mark wasn’t going to turn away from him now that he was struggling with Anti.

There was a sound coming from the bedroom, a low hiss of static. Mark felt the hair on his arms stand up and he shivered in a way that had nothing to do with cold. “Jack?”

 _*Jack’s not here right now.*_ Anti’s voice was the crackle whine of a speaker about to blow out. _*Though he’s going to be so upset when he comes back. I’m planning on making such a mess.*_

Mark hit the door of the bedroom at a run, praying to a god he couldn’t even remember that he wasn’t too late to do something. The bedroom was dark and empty.

Mark swore in a language that literally caused the air around him to shiver and briefly turn blue. Where was Anti? Could Mark follow him wherever he had gone? Mark was pretty good at finding people. He didn’t know if it was an angel thing or what, but he could try at least.

The knife sliding between his ribs seconds later clued him into the fact that, indeed, Anti had just been hiding behind the bedroom door. Mark heard Anti laugh as he stood there in shock, marveling at the sensation of pain and the hot splash of blood as the knife was withdrawn. So that’s what getting stabbed felt like. Mark filed that sensation away as he whirled around to face Anti, feeling the pain fade and the wound close as he did so. Feeling human sensations was fine and all, but his body was still angelic in whatever form he took, and that had certain benefits. He ducked out of the way of the knife swinging towards his face before grabbing Anti’s wrist and squeezing it hard enough that he felt the bones creak beneath his fingers. The knife clattered to the floor and disappeared in a flash of green light. He saw Anti’s other hand move towards him and grabbed that one too, backing Anti up against the wall and pinning him there.

Anti chuckled low in his throat, his green eye glowing like a radioactive isotope. * _Careful Mark, wouldn’t want to bruise Jack now, would we?_ * Anti grinned, and it was so close to Jack’s happy grin that it hurt Mark’s heart just a little to see it. _*Though Jack wouldn’t mind that, to be honest. I get to hear alllllll his thoughts. He thinks about you an awful lot, did you know that? Not just sexy thoughts about how he wishes you had a dick so you could pound him into the mattress either, I mean disgustingly sweet romantic thoughts. I do believe the boy loves you.*_

Mark felt his heart beating faster, his breath catch in his throat. “You’re lying. You’re just trying to mess with my head.”

Anti full on laughed, a sound so full of distortion that it was almost painful. _*Oh, please, the truth is so much more fun, and you knowing how he feels about you is just going to make it hurt more when I finally take him over permanently.*_ Anti grinned, his teeth looking sharper than Jack’s teeth normally did. _*There’s only so long he can fight me, Mark. The boy is sooooo tired. One day he’s going to just blow out like a candle, and all that will be left is me.*_

Mark leaned in close, until they were nose to nose. “I’m not going to let that happen. Jack, if you can hear me in there, we’re not going to let that happen. You have to keep fighting him.”

Anti just grinned. _*It’s going to take more than words to get rid of me. Still, I’ll be nice and let you have Jack back for a little while. After all, you’re not going to have a lot of time left together.*_

Anti’s green eye went dark like a dead coal. For three of Mark’s heartbeats there was nothing in Jack’s eyes except Mark’s own reflection, and then Jack was in there again, looking at Mark with confusion and growing panic.

“Mark? What happened? Why are you—“ Jack’s eyes were wide, scared. “He was here, wasn’t he? The bastard. He had been so quiet lately, I thought—“

Mark realized he was breathing heavily, still leaning close to Jack. Close enough to kiss. He leaned back slowly, let go of Jack’s wrists. “He didn’t go anywhere. It’s okay.”

“It’s not okay!!” Jack whirled around, pounding his fists against the wall once in frustration, his head hanging low until it rested against the wood. “I’m so fucking tired of this! So. Fucking. Tired.” Each word was punctuated by Jack’s fists hitting the wall again.

Mark winced, reaching out and putting a hand on Jack’s shoulder. Jack whirled around again, and for a split second Mark thought he was going to have to duck to avoid a punch, but the anger was gone from Jack’s expression, as quick as a summer storm. The circles under his eyes were dark pits that you could fall into forever and never hit bottom.

Mark pulled Jack close, both wings and arms encircling Jack in a hug. “You’re going to get through this, Jack. We’ll figure something out.”

Jack wrapped his arms around Mark like Mark was an anchor that could keep him from being swept away by a tide or a great wind. “Suzy wants to try untangling me from Anti again,” Jack said softly. “She’s not going to take no for an answer either, you know her.”

Mark wasn’t surprised. Suzy saw Anti as a snarl in the threads of Jack’s soul, a problem her magic might be able to solve. “Why would you turn her down? I mean, all right, last time didn’t go well, but we did that on the spur of the moment, completely unprepared. If Suzy thinks she can handle it, why not try again?”

“I hurt her last time, you remember that?” Jack’s voice shook, and Mark stroked his back soothingly.

“That wasn’t you,” Mark said firmly. “That was Anti, and the fact that he was scared of her means we were probably on the right track.” Mark took a deep breath, felt Jack mirror the action. “Here’s what I think we should do. I’m going to make you some tea, and then we’re both going to go and talk to Suzy, okay? I’m sure she has a plan this time. She’s stubborn, but she’s not stupid.”

Jack nodded against Mark’s chest. “Okay.” The word came out as a sigh. “I’m going to take a shower. I don’t feel _clean_ , after all that. Though I do feel wet. It’s raining out?”

“Oh, right, sorry. I totally forgot that I was soaked.” Mark didn’t pull away though, and Jack didn’t let go of him. “You shower, I’ll make tea. I brought you more tears, I thought you might be running out.”

“Someday you won’t have to cry over me.” Jack turned his face up, and Mark found himself, not for the first time, wondering what it would be like to kiss Jack.

“I don’t mind,” Mark said, and there was a warmth in his chest as he said it, and he knew it was true. He’d do anything for Jack.

Jack pulled away then, and Mark headed for the door, flipping on the bedroom light as he did so, only to turn around when he heard Jack make a strangled noise of surprise.

Jack was looking down at his hand, which was covered in blood that had a golden shimmer to it, which matched the blood on the floor and the blood that Mark only now realized was on his own shirt. Oh. Right. He had forgotten about that too.

“I’m all right!” Mark said quickly. “It only hurt for like a second and I’m not even bleeding anymore, see?” Mark lifted up his shirt and half turned around, revealing skin that was bloody but unmarked. “It was actually a rather interesting sensation, to be honest.”

Jack’s expression was unreadable as he crossed the room and put his hand against Mark’s back, fingers trailing through blood that was already going tacky.

“See? I’m fine! Anti can’t do anything to hurt me, not really.” _Except take you away from me,_ Mark thought suddenly. He realized he was blushing seconds before Jack pulled his hand away.

“Anti didn’t do that to hurt _you_ ,” Jack said softly before turning away.

Mark just stood there as he heard Jack walk away, heard the click of the door shutting, the water turning on. Mark wanted to follow Jack and hold him close and tell him everything was going to be okay and have Jack _believe_ him. He wanted to hold Jack and just let him cry or scream or even hit him if it would make Jack feel better. Was that love?

Mark sighed, cleaned and dried himself and his clothing with a thought, and headed into the kitchen. He could stand there and have deep introspective thoughts all day, but then there wouldn’t be tea. He opened a cupboard and almost yelped in shock when he was greeted with the sight of Sam curled up next to the teapot, their blue eye staring at him as their tentacles curled and uncurled in something Mark recognized as agitation.

“Sam! Hey buddy, were you hiding? It’s okay, Anti’s gone. Well, not _gone_ gone. Not yet. Soon maybe.” Mark held out his arm and Sam reached out and crawled down along it until they sat on Mark’s shoulder, crooning softly. Mark felt some of the worry and tension drain out of him. Sam seemed to have that effect on people.

“Do me a favor? Keep an eye on Jack?” Mark chuckled weakly. “You know what I mean. He’s… feeling rather rough right now.”

Sam purred and rubbed against Mark’s neck for a second before floating off towards the bedroom in that way they had. A minute later he heard Jack’s voice and Sam’s answering noises. Mark felt himself relaxing a bit more. He felt better, knowing someone was watching Jack.

“We’re going to get through this,” Mark whispered. He didn’t know who he was talking to, maybe the god he couldn’t remember that he assumed created him, or empty air, or even the teapot he was holding in his hands. Just saying it out loud made him feel better though, made the words feel true. “I promise.”


	2. Chapter 2

“Babe? You okay?”

“Mmmm?” Suzy blinked at Arin over her cup of tea. She was waiting for Jack and Mark to come over. They had met last night, talked about trying again to free Jack from Anti, and instead of charging right in, Suzy had told them to give her a night to prepare. Her eyes flicked to the clock on the mantlepiece, a beautiful thing of dark wood and gold flourishes. They’d be here soon. “I’m fine, why?”

Arin gave her a look, his brown eyes full of concern as he paused whatever Earth video game he had been playing. “Because you’ve been holding that cup of tea for about half an hour now and I don’t think I’ve seen you drink it.”

Suzy took a sip of her tea and sighed, it had indeed gone cold. She drank it anyway before putting the cup aside. “Nerves, I guess.”

Arin put down his controller and walked over to the oversized chair she was sitting in, his cloven hooves making no sound on the carpet. His horns shone dull black in the light. “All right, scoot over.”

Suzy shifted over and Arin sat next to her, the bristly fur on his legs catching slightly on the silk robe she was wearing. She leaned her head on his shoulder, breathing in the dry leather and magnolia scent of him as one of her spider arms reached up stroked the curve of his horns, the texture of it a familiar comfort. He was warm and she’d probably be sweating in a minute, but she didn’t care.

“I know it didn’t go well last time. But this time you have a plan! And me!” Arin smiled broadly, and Suzy felt the corners of her mouth quirking up in spite of themselves. “If Anti shows up, I swear to the gods above and sideways that I’ll punch him in the face before he touches you again.”

_*As if you could take me,_ * said a voice from the doorway. Anti was standing there, grinning sharply. They could hear Mark down the hallway, running towards them. The television in front of Suzy and Arin crackled and hissed, the image dissolving into fragments as the video game console spat the game out clear across the room.

Both Suzy and Arin were on their feet in a second, but Suzy could already tell that Jack was in control of himself once again. His fists were tightly clenched, his eyes nearly squinted shut from effort. “Make him shut up, Suzy, please.” Jack’s voice was rough with exhaustion.

Suzy’s arms were already in motion, the binding in place within seconds. Jack staggered a little and Suzy saw Mark put out a hand to steady him. Jack looked even worse than when she had seen him yesterday, his eyes a little more sunken, a bit of a tremor in his hands. “Jack, are you up to this? Maybe you should get some sleep—“

“It’s not going to get any better, Suzy,” Jack said wearily. “And you know what happens when I sleep. Sometimes. Chaotic bastard.” He shook his head. “I’ll be fine, really. Can we just start? Please?”

Arin retrieved his video game from where it had landed and put it back in its case, turning off the television which had gone from snow to a blank screen. Jack winced, but Arin just smiled. “Hey, no worries, that’s what auto-save is for. When you’re feeling up to it, you totally have to come over and play with me again.” He placed an arm on Jack’s shoulder. “We’re going to beat this fucker, you hear me?”

Jack smiled. It was a shadow of the smile Suzy remembered from the old days, but it was still genuine and it made her happy to see it. “I nearly believe that, when you say it.”

“Well you should,” Arin said. “Suzy’s the best damn Weaver this side of the Labyrinth, if anyone can untangle your soul, she can.”

Suzy felt her slight smile freeze on her face. Arin’s confidence was touching, but she was still nervous. Still, she wasn’t going to feel any better until she knew what she was working with, stalling wasn’t going to help anyone. She clapped her hands together, endeavoring to keep her voice light. “Okay! Let’s get started, shall we? That binding isn’t going to last forever.”

Minutes later, Jack was laying on the plush carpet, a pillow under his head. Suzy sat cross legged on the floor to his right, Arin sitting behind her, giving her a last second shoulder rub as she flexed her fingers in preparation. Mark was sitting on Jack’s left, wings spread out behind him. He was damage control, in case something happened again, as was Arin really, along with being moral support.

“Okay Jack,” Suzy said, trying to keep the tremble of nerves out of her voice. “We’re not going to put you to sleep this time, because I’m going to need you to tell me if Anti’s breaking free of the binding I put on him. I might not be able to tell myself, once I start working. And you need to tell me if what I’m doing hurts, all right? It’s important. Don’t just not tell me something’s wrong because you want me to keep going. Souls can be fragile things, and I don’t want to do any damage to yours. This is probably going to take several nights, just warning you right now.”

Jack nodded, eyes fixed on the ceiling. “Suzy, if it’ll get rid of him, I’ll do this for as long as it takes.”

Suzy closed her human looking eyes, they’d only get in the way of what she wanted to see. She felt her focus shift as her spider eyes took over. Unimportant objects became unseen, while the people in the room came into sharper focus. She could see the threads of their fates, all of them intwined at the moment, but she needed to see deeper than that. None of her other eyes had eyelids, but her mind did something that was equivalent to a blink and there was the structure of Jack’s soul, laid out for her to see.

Outwardly, Suzy showed no sign that anything was wrong. Inwardly she winced. Last time it had been bad, of course, a tangle to be sure. This time it was worse. A normal soul, well, it looked different to everyone, but there was a certain order to it. A wound ball of yarn. A well made tapestry. A tree growing straight. With the addition of Anti’s soul everything was chaos. Tangled, knotted yarn. An uneven tapestry with warped threads. Rose vines cutting into the tree’s trunk. Suzy saw it as a clump of threads, something to untangle, something she understood.

_Weaver of Stars, Mother of all who spin, She who is the loom on which fate is woven, help me now._

Carefully, Suzy reached down and took the tangled mess in her hands, examining it. To anyone watching, it would have looked like she was pantomiming holding something, but what she was doing was very real. She tugged at Anti’s soul, searching for the end of the thread, as it were, a starting point. This was as far as she had gotten last time, before Anti had woken up and lashed out. This time nothing happened except Jack shifting slightly. “Jack?”

“Sorry. It just feels kinda like you’re tickling me, except on the inside. It doesn’t hurt, it’s just weird.”

Suzy nodded. “That’s normal.” She had finally found an end, and slowly, very slowly, she set to work.

Suzy hadn’t really had her hands in a soul in she wasn’t sure how long. Ever since she had stopped hunting on the pathways of the dying and the dead, at any rate. Anyone who had strayed off the paths was fair game, and there were a lot of things you could do with a soul. They made good armor, usually. Or you could just eat them. Suzy couldn’t remember the last time she had eaten a soul, but she knew she wasn’t going to start with Anti’s. It felt almost slick under her fingers, and she had to work to keep it from slipping away. It also stung her, like a live wire with a very low voltage. That was something she hadn’t expected.

She had thought maybe Anti’s soul would be sticky, but that wasn’t the case at all. In fact, she had to be careful because Jack’s soul clung to both Anti’s soul and her fingers, and she didn’t want to accidentally break it. A healthy soul could survive a few wounds and could heal minor damage, but Jack’s soul didn’t look or feel healthy at all. It would only take a few breaks before his life would start bleeding out of him, and she refused to let that happen. She mentally leaned closer, squinting as she worked the end through loops and knots, winding the bit of soul around her fingers to keep it from getting re-tangled in the main mass.

Time passed, she wasn’t sure how long. Distantly, she was aware of her shoulders and fingers beginning to cramp, an ache starting both in her back and in her head.

_Suzy? You okay?_ Mark’s voice in her head, concerned. _You’ve been working for awhile. Maybe you should take a break._

Suzy mentally shook her head, very carefully not looking at him. She didn’t want to see his soul, didn’t want to be distracted. _Just a little longer. I’ve got a good rhythm going._ It wasn’t a lie, the work seemed to be getting a little easier as she went along.

Suzy felt Mark kind of mentally sigh. _It’s bad, isn’t it? When I look at Jack, it’s like looking at shadows under ice, and every day there are more shadows, darker ones, and the ice is melting._

It was as good an analogy as any. _He’s just so worn down. See if you can get him to eat something. It would help._

“Suzy?” Jack’s voice sounded tired, strained. “I think he’s working loose.”

Suzy looked down at her hands, at the amount of work she had accomplished, the bit of soul she had managed to free, the huge mass that was still left. There was still so much to do, but it couldn’t be helped. She muttered a charm and a prayer that would keep the bits of soul she had freed from trying to intertwine again, and withdrew her hands. She opened her other eyes and the world swam for a bit before solidifying, colors and details filling themselves back in.

Jack let out a long shaky breath and closed his eyes. When he opened them again, his green eye flickered for a moment, then faded.

“Huh. Speechless. That’s nice, for a change.” Jack went to sit up, then lay back down with a groan. “Gods I’m tired. And all I did was lay here. Suzy did all the work.” He half sat up again and this time Suzy saw Mark reach out to support him. Jack took Suzy’s hand and squeezed it, and Suzy made sure to turn her wince into a smile. Gods, she ached. “Thank you, Suzy.”

“Don’t thank me yet, we’re not done. We made good progress though. A good start.” She kept her tone light, encouraging. “In the meantime, take care of yourself. You need to be strong for this.”

Jack nodded, but he didn’t look at her when he did, just got to his feet, leaning on Mark heavily. “Gods, I feel like I could sleep for a week. Except—“

“I can watch you. While you sleep. I mean—“ Mark laughed, blushing slightly. “I mean I don’t need to sleep, and I can run damage control on Anti if I have to. He can’t hurt me. Not permanently.”

Suzy saw several emotions flicker across Jack’s face in an instant, the last being longing, which was quickly replaced with resignation and utter exhaustion. “I—fine.”

“Suzy, we’ll see you tomorrow?” Mark asked. He was practically half carrying Jack, steering him towards the door.

Suzy nodded. “Same time.” She smiled. “This is going to work.”

Mark’s smile mirrored her own. “It is. Thank you, Suzy.”

As soon as the door closed behind them, Suzy let out a breath and leaned back against Arin. His solid, warm presence almost made her tear up. She felt wired and exhausted and exhilarated, and more than a little bit overwhelmed.

“Babe? You okay?” Arin kneaded her shoulders. “You’re all knotted up.”

Suzy rubbed at her hands, trying to work out the cramps. “I don’t know how Jack’s survived this long. You didn’t see it, Arin. It’s like his soul is being strangled.” She shivered.

She felt Arin lean over and kiss her shoulder. “He’s strong, babe. Like you.”

_Weaver let it be so_ , she thought. _Please let it be so._


	3. Chapter 3

Jack woke up, not opening his eyes, going down a physical and mental checklist. Bed felt like his. No feeling of dried blood on his hands. He could feel Sam curled up next to him, their smooth skin against his own. He could smell Mark, lemons and sunshine. A week ago, that smell, the feel of Mark being near him all the time had been novel. Now though, it was starting to grate, and he wasn’t sure why.

Anti had been quiet, but if anything that made Jack feel more on edge, not less. Quiet from him rarely meant safety, it was just another thing Anti did to keep Jack constantly off balance. He’d spend days, even weeks, talking constantly so that Jack couldn’t sleep, until Jack passed out from sheer exhaustion and woke up with blood on his hands, then other times he’d be so quiet that Jack spent all his time being nervous and twitchy, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

It was almost worse since Suzy had started poking around with his soul a week ago. Everything seemed to annoy Jack more, not less. He just wanted this to be over, to be done, and they were _so_ close.

“Jack? You awake?”

Jack groaned and opened his eyes. Mark was sitting by the bed, face friendly and open. Jack wanted to smile, wanted to reach over and cup Mark’s face in his hands, give him a kiss good morning. But no. Jack wasn’t going to tell Mark how he felt about him until Anti was gone, until he was sure that whatever feelings Mark might have for him weren’t all mixed up with pity. Mark cared so much about everyone, wasn’t it possible that Mark would convince himself that he loved Jack just because Mark wanted to make him feel better?

That almost sounded like a thought Anti would have fed him, except Anti would have been more blunt about it and the word “fuck” would have been used a lot.

“How are you feeling?” Mark asked as Jack sat up in bed and yawned, stretching and wincing. His body ached all the time now, the sensation of having his soul manipulated every night leaving behind a sensation that his body seemed to translate into an ache deep in his bones.

“Still tired,” Jack admitted. “And everything hurts.”

“Here,” Mark handed him a cup of tea, which Jack took gratefully. It tasted bright, like honeysuckle, the angel tears imparting their usual flavor of citrus and salt. The ache eased. “Better?”

“Much.” Jack clutched the mug in his hands, not looking at Mark. He knew what Mark was going to say next.

“You really should eat something. Someone. I mean—“

“I know what you mean.” Jack felt his hands tighten around the mug. “Suzy says she’s close, right? Might even be tonight. I can wait until then.” He forced his expression into a smile. Not a very good one, to judge from the way Mark was looking at him. This almost argument had become an unfortunate part of the nightly routine. Jack would refuse to eat, Mark would push, but not too hard, then he’d go off for a few hours, Jack wasn’t sure where, and then they’d head over to Suzy’s place.

Mark stood up and sat next to Jack on the bed, breaking the routine. “Can you…” Mark looked down at his hands. “Can you explain it to me? Why you don’t want to have sex? You’ve said before that eating makes you feel better and seems to make Anti quiet down for awhile.”

Oh. Jack sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “It’s— it just— it’s like— it’s hate lying to them, the humans, not telling them that I have this _thing_ inside me, this whole other being that for all I know is _watching_ us together while we have sex. I used to try and tell them, and that… didn’t go over so great. So I wait until I absolutely _have_ to feed and just feel like a horrible person the whole time, though I make damn sure the human has the best sex I can give them at least. And sure I get some time where Anti finally shuts up, but it’s…. It’s not worth it, for how it makes me feel.”

Mark nodded. “Well then, does it have to be sex with a human? I mean—“

“Taking sexual energy from another incubus is kind of… redundant,” Jack interrupted. “It tastes sort of flat and isn’t really satisfying.” It wasn’t like incubi and succubi didn’t get it on with each other, they’d often have sex with each other just for the variety of it, but actual feeding rarely occurred. It wasn’t like he hadn’t had offers, when his friends saw that he was basically starving, but Jack had always turned them down. Pity made a poor seasoning for sex.

Mark shook his head. “That wasn’t what I was going to ask.” He rubbed the back of his neck and smiled in such a way that Jack’s stomach both flipped and twisted all at once. “It’s just, well, I’ve been studying human anatomy more closely lately and I think I uhhh— gave myself all the proper things that would be required for both of us to have an enjoyable sexual experience. I even remembered to make myself a prostate! Prostate stimulation seemed to be very important in all the articles I read. Humans have so many interesting organs!”

Jack could barely hear Mark over the sound of Anti’s laughter. _*Oh this is good.*_ Anti’s voice echoed painfully in Jack’s skull and Jack winced. _*This is way too good. He’s finally willing to throw you a pity fuck. I’d totally take him up on that, if I were you. No wait, I wouldn’t. I’d be stabbing him just to watch him bleed. I guess I could fuck him while I did that though.*_

_“_ No.” Jack said it a little too loud, he could tell from the way Mark flinched back ever so slightly. Jack couldn’t help it, he could barely hear himself over Anti’s laughter, over the frantic pounding of his own heart. “No, I can’t, I—“ Jack felt himself drop the mug of tea as he scrambled off the other side of the bed. Sam made a distressed purr/squeak, looking up at him with one bright blue eye.

Mark stood up very slowly, but didn’t move toward Jack, acting as if Jack was a frightened animal that he didn’t want to scare away. “Jack, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you, I just thought—“

Jack’s head began to throb, right over his left eye. It was always the left eye, the green eye, _his_ eye. Jack clapped a hand over his eye, the pain making it hard to think. “This isn’t how I wanted it! I wanted you to offer because you cared about me, not out of pity!”

The words hung between Jack and Mark in the sudden ringing silence. Even the inside of Jack’s head was quiet, as if Anti didn’t want to miss whatever came next. Jack closed his eyes so he wouldn’t have to see Mark’s face.

There was the sound of footsteps on the floorboards. Jack knew that Mark could move silently if he wanted to, that the sound was a courtesy. “Jack? Look at me? Please?” Mark’s voice was quiet, a tremor of emotion running through it that Jack couldn’t quite identify.

Jack opened his eyes, took his hand away from his face. Mark was standing in arm’s reach, and he was… huh, Jack didn’t know angels could blush.

“Just listen to me for a minute. Don’t argue, don’t listen to whatever Anti might be telling you, just listen to me. I don’t sleep at all and I have a perfect memory, well, you know, up to a point. It means I have a lot of time to think about things, and lately I’ve been using that time to think about you—us—. I remember what you were like before Anti, your smile, your laugh, the totally easy energy you always seemed to have. I remember feeling hurt when you withdrew from everyone. The night I found you lying on the floor, nearly dead, I—I don’t know what I would have done if you had died. There would have been this hole in my life, if you were gone.”

Jack felt tears running down the right side of his face, but he didn’t move to wipe them away, as if moving would break the moment. Mark’s own eyes were welling up, tears threatening to spill over.

“I don’t know how things between us would have gone if Anti hadn’t shown up,” Mark continued. “I can’t see the future. Maybe we never would have gotten as close as we had, or maybe we would have gotten closer much faster, who can say? And I know that even when, not if, _when_ we get Anti out of you, you might have been changed enough from all this that you might never go back to being the care-free Jack I once knew. And I don’t care. I want to be around for all of it, happy or sad or whatever you are, whatever you’re feeling. I want to be there for you.” Mark smiled, even as tears spilled down his cheeks. “Is that pity, Jack?”

Jack shook his head, even though the motion hurt. Two steps was all it took to cross the space between them, to fall into Mark’s arms and sob like his heart was breaking. He felt Mark’s arms around him, felt the brush of feathers against his back as he babbled apologies into Mark’s chest.

“Shhhh, shhhh, it’s okay,” Mark said as he stroked Jack’s hair. “You’re going to be okay.”

Jack looked up at Mark through his tears, reached up with one trembling hand to cup Mark’s cheek. “Mark, I—“

Jack’s whole world became pain, searing white hot pain and the sensation of his very self being ripped apart, the feeling of something leaving him, like blood from a wound.

* _If you think I’m going to let you be happy after all the time you’ve kept me trapped in your soul, you have another thing coming, Jackaboy. I’m sick and tired of waiting. I’m outta here.*_

The last thing Jack heard before his consciousness fled was the sound of his own screams mixing with Mark’s.


	4. Chapter 4

The sound of Jack and Anti’s combined screaming filled Mark’s whole world with pain. He was pretty sure he was trying to shout over the sound, but he couldn’t hear himself, like something out of a nightmare when you try to scream and all that comes out is a whisper. It was all he could do to stay upright, to not drop Jack and cover his ears in pain, not like it would have helped.

The screaming was bad. The other sound was worse, the deep base note behind it all, as if the fabric of reality was being torn apart. Then there was a flash of light, and the screaming stopped. And that was even worse, because Jack hung limp in Mark’s arms, and there was someone else in the room, a naked someone who looked like Jack, except there was no scar across their throat and when they opened their eyes they were the bright neon green most commonly seen on poisonous frogs.

Anti raised his head, grinning with too many teeth as he swayed slightly. “Oh. Oh fuck, that _worked_! Fucking _finally_!” Anti took a step forward, staggered, and then disappeared in a shower of green pixels as he started to fall. He didn’t reappear. 

A tiny part of Mark noted what had just happened calmly and rationally, something to be dealt with later. The rest of him was still screaming, though not out loud, not anymore. The only sound he could hear was his own panting gasps. Jack was cold and unmoving in Mark's arms, and for one horrible second Mark thought he was dead. Then he heard the barest whisper-rattle of a breath, saw Jack's eyelids flicker.

“Jack? Jack, hang on okay?" Whatever was wrong with Jack, angel tears couldn't heal it, otherwise Jack would have been just fine, since Mark couldn't stop crying. Mark could still heal through touch though, and he felt the warm energy passing from his skin into Jack, like water pouring into a bucket that was full of holes. The flow wasn't slowing down or stopping though, like it would have if the person was healing.

There was a noise in the room that Mark suddenly realized he'd been hearing for almost a minute, a kind of buzzing wail of a sound. Sam was hovering next to Jack, tentacles reaching for him. Mark shifted Jack's weight and gently lifted him into a bridal carry as Sam wrapped themself around Jack’s arm, still making that heartbreaking sound.

“Sam? Sam, I can’t think when you do that.” The words came out more angry and frustrated than Mark would have liked, but he couldn’t help it. What had Anti done to Jack? Did it have to do with Jack’s soul? Mark forced himself to take a deep breath and closed his eyes. It only took the space of a heartbeat to let go of his human form slightly, to reveal some of the extra eyes he normally kept hidden. He opened all of his eyes then and looked at Jack, past the physical shell of him, down to the core.

Everyone saw souls differently. The Weaver-folk tended to see them as threads, tapestries, something they could pull apart and reshape. Sin eaters saw them as colors and tastes. Mark himself saw souls as metaphorical landscapes, and he had no idea if that was normal for angels or not. Jack’s soul was a pond in the middle of a forest glade. When Anti had been there, the grass had been dead, the pond iced over and seething with restless shadows. Now there wasn’t even dead grass, just dusty ground, the water of the lake draining quickly through a hundred cracks in the earth. There was rain falling, but even though it was a steady, almost torrential rain, the earth did not seem to be renewed by it and the lake didn’t seem to be filling back up.

The problem with not knowing who created you was that you didn’t know who to swear at, or to, or by. You didn’t know who to beg for help from either. Mark heard himself rattle off a litany of gods and demons before realizing that there was only one person he knew who might be able to help him.

Mark thought himself into Suzy’s living room so hard that the sudden shift in time and space and reality almost made him stagger. He heard Suzy shriek in surprise, followed by Arin’s startled shout, but Mark didn’t look up. He only had eyes for Jack.

“Suzy, please, you have to help Jack. I think—“ Mark swallowed hard. He didn’t want to say the words, saying the words would make them real, make all this true. Still, he forced them out, each word as hard and heavy as a stone. “I think he’s dying.”

******

Mark lay back against the headboard of the guest bed as he finished telling Arin and Suzy what had happened, holding Jack against his chest. Suzy was sitting next to him, staring at Jack with all of her eyes. Arin was pacing, hooves clicking on the wooden floor.

“Son of a bitch,” Arin muttered, hands clenching and unclenching at his sides.

“I didn’t know,” Suzy whispered. “I didn’t know Anti could just—I thought he wanted to stay, not leave. If he had just waited, he would have had what he wanted. He didn’t have to—“

“Anti wanted to hurt Jack. Or me. It doesn’t matter,” Mark said shortly. “Suzy, can you do anything for him?”

Suzy made a sound like a laugh crossed with a sob. “I’m a Weaver, Mark, not a god.” She lay her human hands on Jack’s chest, gesturing widely with her furred spider arms. “I’m not even sure the Weaver of Stars could put his soul back together again. It’s almost more holes than soul. I can see the life just flowing out of him. And I don’t know how to stop it.”

“Can’t you, I don’t know, patch him up with something?” Arin kept pacing, running his hands through his hair. “I mean, you’ve told me that souls can heal themselves, can’t you do something temporary, buy him some time?”

“It’s a soul, Arin, not a coat! I can’t sew the holes shut with starlight and song, it’d be like trying to dam a river with toothpicks and string!” Suzy started to cry. Mark reached down to place a hand over hers, and Sam reached over with a tentacle, making their strange sort of purring sound that they did when people were distressed.

Arin’s face immediately fell and he rushed over to hug her. “Baby, I’m sorry. I just thought—“ He sighed heavily. “There has to be something we can do.”

The idea came to Mark in a flash. “Suzy? If you had something stronger to work with, if you had part of someone’s soul, could you do it? Could you fix him?”

Suzy’s head snapped up, her tears drying up as she stared at him first in shock, then in contemplation. There was a long silence as Jack grew a little colder and Mark shifted to hold him even closer. Mark was sure that the only thing keeping Jack alive right now was the healing energy that he was pouring into him, and how long could he keep that up? He honestly didn’t know.

“There are stories,” Suzy said quietly. “About such things.” She looked Mark right in the eyes. “It’s going to hurt. It might not save him. It might kill you.”

Mark shook his head. “I don’t care what happens to me. I know it’s not fair to put all this pressure on you. It’s selfish and I’m sorry, but if there’s even a chance it could work—“

“You love him.” It wasn’t a question.

Mark just nodded, then forced out the words, as if saying them was some sort of magic talisman that would make everything turn out all right. “I—I love him.”

Suzy nodded shortly, and her smile was more of a smirk. “Then nothing I could say would stop you from doing this anyway.” She sighed, running one clawed arm through her hair, tucking a strand behind her ear. “The sooner we start, the better. Mark, I need you laying on the bed next to Jack. Don’t let go of his hand, no matter what happens. Arin? I’m going to need you to hold Mark down.”

Both Arin and Mark blinked in surprise, but it was Arin who spoke as Mark arranged himself and Jack on the bed. “Suze? Why—“

“The dead always tried to get away when I took their souls apart,” Suzy said quietly. “I can’t imagine it’s any more pleasant for the living.” There was something that almost sounded like wistful nostalgia in her tone. “Are you ready?”

Mark nodded, squeezing Jack’s hand, so cold in his.

Suzy said something, not in the language of dreams, but in some other ancient tongue, the clatter and hiss of it crawling along Mark’s bones. A prayer maybe. Then she reached for him.

*******

Mark’s world was pain, or at least, something his body chose to interpret as pain. Even worse was the feeling that something deep inside of him, something vital, was being slowly and carefully unraveled, inch by inch. Distantly he heard himself screaming, felt Arin’s hands against his chest, heard words being whispered in his ear, the sound of the words reassuring even though he couldn’t make sense of them in the state he was in. He felt one of Sam’s tentacles wrap around his hand where it was joined with Jack’s, and suddenly there was a tiny little oasis of calm in Mark’s mind, a pinprick in a sea of panic and pain that Mark clung to just as tightly as he clung to Jack’s hand.

Time lost all meaning. It could have been minutes later, hours, days, eons, when he realized the pain and the sensation of coming undone had stopped. He opened eyes that he hadn’t realized he had closed, realized that he had lost some control over his form at some point when rows of eyes opened instead of just two, when he saw orbs of purple and blue fire hovering in the air. He still had a body though, still had his hand in Jack’s. Mark could hear the labored sounds of someone breathing, and realized it was him. Every inch of him was covered in sweat.

“Mark?” Suzy said his name like someone who had been repeating herself for a long time. She sounded exhausted. “Mark? Are you okay?”

There was an ache in Mark’s chest, a feeling like something was missing. He found himself rubbing a spot just above his heart.

“I had to use almost half your soul,” Suzy said. “I wasn’t going to use any more than half, and for a while I wasn’t sure it was going to be enough. It’ll grow back. Eventually.” She sounded like she knew what she was talking about, and Mark trusted her.“You’re probably going to feel weak or tired for a while, I think.”

“Is Jack okay?” Mark’s voice sounded rough. He realized he no longer felt his healing energy flowing into Jack and Mark turned his head to look over at him.

Jack was less pale than he had been, and the hand intwined with his own was warm. His breathing sounded normal, even. Sam looked up at Mark and made a noise like a tired purr. Mark reached over and stroked Sam, and Sam leaned into the touch.

“He’s going to live,” Suzy said. “I don’t know when he’s going to wake up, but I think—I think it worked.” She sounded a bit awed, even through her apparent exhaustion. She stared at her own hands, disbelief plain on her face.

Mark reached over and took Suzy’s hands in one of his own. “I can’t thank you enough. Literally. I don’t think there’s a language that has the words I would need, to thank you properly. I owe you. Whatever you need, it’s yours.”

“What I need is to sleep for like, a week,” Suzy said with a tired laugh. She went to get up, swayed slightly, and Arin was there in an instant, for her to lean upon.

“Suzy? I mean it. I owe you.”

Suzy simply nodded. “If it’ll make you feel better, fine.” She yawned widely. “You should get some rest. Sleep. Angel or not, you have to be tired.”

“I’m not sure what tired feels like,” Mark said, but he did feel something like soft gray clouds settling into his limbs, his eyes, making them feel heavy. He yawned, and that was a thing he had never done before. He felt all of his eyes closing, felt the warmth of Jack’s body next to his, and then nothing else as, for the first time, he fell asleep.


	5. Chapter 5

Jack walked by a large, nearly empty lakebed as dark clouds roiled in the sky above and a cold breeze blew through his hair. He was a creature born of human dreams, human desires, and he knew that what he was experiencing was a dream. He also knew that on some level, it was true, like some dreams were. He remembered, vaguely, that something had happened to him, something horrible, but he couldn’t remember what it was.

The ground Jack walked on was dry and dusty earth, and the ground and the lakebed were riddled with cracks. Thunder rumbled and a icy cold rain started to fall, but the earth was so dry that the rain beaded up without soaking into the earth. Jack shivered, something about the sight unnerved him.

“I thought I was done with this shit,” said a familiar voice from behind Jack.

Jack whirled around to see Anti standing in front of him, close enough to kiss. His eyes glowed green in the darkness, malevolent fireflies. Jack’s memories came rushing back, the fear, the pain, the screams. “You! What did you do to me? Did you kill me? Am I dead?”

“Did I kill you? I wish.” Anti’s mouth twisted into a snarl. “You didn’t even die the night I tried to carve myself out of you. Your tar pit of a soul would have dragged me into death with you, but I didn’t know that. I had done my time! I just wanted out! You kept me away from him for so long!”

Anti’s hand shot out, nearly too fast to see, and suddenly Jack couldn’t breathe for the hand around his throat. He knew logically that he was dreaming, that he shouldn’t need to breathe, but still he panicked and clawed at the hand that held him.

Anti leaned close, his breath smelling like blood on a wet, dirty street. “You have something of mine. I want it back.”

As Jack watched, a familiar scar twisted around Anti’s throat before splitting open. The blood that poured out looked almost black. Anti laughed, the sound interspersed with static and bubbling blood.

“It looks better on me anyway.”

There was a flash of lightning and then suddenly Anti was gone. Jack gasped and went to one knee, coughing as the rain poured down. The skin of his throat was smooth under his hand, the familiar rough texture of his scar absent.

The rain falling on Jack changed, became warm. Grass was beginning to grow under his feet, and when he finally stood up and looked around he saw that the land around him was no longer cracked and dried. The lakebed was beginning to fill with water again. Jack knew somehow, in the way of dreams, that the lake being filled was good. Important. He sat by the lake as the weather turned warmer and the sky behind the clouds turned brighter, a strange golden cast tinting the world. Eventually the rain slowed to a drizzle, then stopped entirely. Jack continued to sit by the lake, feeling suddenly peaceful. He had the feeling he was waiting for someone.

“So this is what dreaming is like!” Mark sat down next to Jack with a smile and a laugh. “And you’re here too! Am I dreaming you? Or are you dreaming me?”

“You don’t sleep,” Jack said, and a little thread of anxiety started to worm its way through the calm he had been feeling. Mark looked different, his eyes a little sunken, his face a little haggard. It was like his perfect features had been touched by mortality. Jack found himself reaching up to cup Mark’s cheek, and Mark leaned into the touch.

“I guess I do now,” Mark said as he cupped Jack’s hand in his own. “Maybe once my soul grows back I won’t need to sleep again. But this is nice! I’m here with you! And your soul looks great! A lot better than the last time I saw it.”

Jack blinked in shock. “Wait, this is supposed to be my soul? And you did something to your soul?”

Mark nodded and drew Jack’s hand away from his face, though he still continued to hold it. “Anti practically tore your soul apart, trying to get out of you. Suzy took part of my soul and used it to fix you. Looks like it worked.” Mark squeezed his hand. “I don’t know what I would have done if it hadn’t worked.” Mark’s expression turned hard for a moment, and the black of his eyes seemed to grow even darker. “Well no, I know what I would have done. I would have hunted down that green bastard and I would have—“

Jack shivered and leaned on Mark. “Don’t.” It wasn’t like Jack didn’t hate Anti, but he didn’t want Mark, who was usually so kind, to talk about such things. “I can’t—-I don’t even know what to say, except thank you, and that doesn’t seem like enough. Is Anti gone? Really gone?”

Mark nodded. “Had a body of his own and everything, last I saw him. He looks like you.”

“Like Dark looks like you.” Jack shook his head and sighed. “Maybe Anti’s the same sort of thing Dark is. Whatever he is.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Mark said firmly. “What matters is you’re okay, and you’re finally free of him. Your eyes are even the same color now. And your scar is gone. When did that happen?”

“Anti took it back, somehow. I think. If this really is all true and not a very vivid metaphor.” Jack leaned over and caught his reflection in the water of the lake. Both of his eyes were a luminous blue once more, but now there were golden flecks in the blue of his irises. The effect was rather striking.

Jack was feeling so many things that he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “This better actually be a true dream and not just the regular kind, because otherwise I am going to be so pissed when I wake up.” He laughed, because it was better than crying. He couldn’t remember the last time he had genuinely laughed. It felt good, really good.

“About the waking up thing,” Mark said. “Ummm, how do I do that?”

Jack looked up at Mark. “It usually just sort of happens. But in stories, sometimes people can be woken up by a kiss.” He smiled as he said it, some of his old humor having returned.

“That sounds nice,” Mark said softly. “Would you kiss me? Please?”

Jack’s heart pounded as he leaned over and kissed Mark on the lips. Maybe because it was a dream, or maybe because it was Mark, the kiss was perfect, everything soft, everything good. Jack closed his eyes and felt like something warm and soft was surrounding him, like Mark’s wings. Or blankets.

Jack opened his eyes and found himself laying in a bed that wasn’t his, looking at Mark’s sleeping face, three sets of eyes closed in sleep. As Jack watched, two sets of eyes faded and there was only the pair he was used to. They opened, blinking slowly, black and gold eyes slowly focusing on Jack.

“Hi,” Mark said sleepily. “That was nice, the kissing. Can we do some more of that?”

Jack laughed and leaned forward. Because they were no longer dreaming, the kiss wasn’t perfect, yet it still was somehow, even with nose bumping and the awkward angle Jack was at. It was still warm, still sweet. Then Sam shrieked in what Jack could tell was delight and then he was being hugged by many tentacles. Jack pulled back from Mark, laughing hard even as he hugged Sam back.

“Sam! Sam! Hush it eyeball, I’m fine! You’re going to wake up the whole house!”

“Too late,” Arin said, standing in the doorway, Suzy leaning against him. They were both smiling.

The next several minutes were taken up with hugs and exclamations and gratitude and ended with everyone holding on to each other, Jack in the middle of it all. Jack could still feel the absence of Anti in his head like a tooth that was missing, but hopefully that strange empty feeling would go away in time, and it was much better than the alternative.

Mark stumbled slightly as he got out of bed, and leaned on Jack.

“You might want to look after him for a little bit,” Suzy said. “He’s going to be rough for a little while.”

“That’d be a change of pace, me looking after you,” Jack said to Mark.

Mark smiled. “I don’t mind it. Could you look after me at your place though? I mean, if you don’t mind. I like it there, it’s… comfortable. Lived in.”

With a start, Jack realized that, without Anti, he _could_ have gone on the rose path back to Mark’s place, closer to the Center of the Labyrinth. Now that he didn’t feel like he had to isolate himself, he could even move back home, to where he had lived before moving out onto the black path. That was a thought for later though.

“Sure. Let’s go home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now all that's left is the smut. Glorious glorious smut.


	6. Chapter 6

Mark woke up in Jack’s bed, less tired than he had been but still with that faintly aching emptiness in his chest. The ache eased a little when he opened his eyes and saw Jack looking back at him, his expression fond. It had only been a night, but Jack already looked better, the dark circles around his eyes already beginning to fade.

“Making up for lost time on the whole sleeping thing,” Jack said with a yawn. “You and me both. How are you feeling?”

Mark yawned back, still not used to the sensation of yawning. “I feel good, I think. Less tired. You?”

“I feel fine,” Jack said. “It’s taking some getting used to, in a weird way. I got so used to feeling awful and tired and hungry all the time, it’s like I forgot what it was like to feel kinda good.”

“You should go find something to eat,” Mark said quickly. “I’ll be fine for a few hours alone.” He sat up in bed. There was a certain lingering weakness in his muscles, but nothing debilitating.

“Well, I was thinking,” Jack said, sitting up in bed next to Mark. “That I never did get to take you up on your offer earlier, since we got, well, interrupted. I mean, if you don’t want to, that’s fine!” Jack said quickly. “If you’re too tired or you changed your mind that’s perfectly okay!”

Mark leaned over and kissed Jack, reaching up to cup his face. “I didn’t change my mind,” he said against Jack’s lips.

Mark felt Jack smile, and then Jack leaned forward, wrapping his arms around him, kissing him back. He was surprised when Jack’s tongue entered his mouth, pleasantly so. Jack tasted like the color green looked, fresh and bright, and there was an undercurrent of something else, something electric.

Mark felt himself grow warmer as the kiss lengthened, a pleasant heat that flowed thorough his limbs and seemed to pool in his stomach. He felt something happening between his legs and thought back to the medical texts he had read. Human sexual organs were so interesting!

“I think my penis is filling with blood,” Mark announced when he pulled back from the kiss.

Jack chuckled softly. “Well we know that part of it works I guess! And it’s called getting an erection.”

Mark nodded, breathing a little bit harder. “It feels pleasant. More than pleasant.”

Jack smiled. “It only gets better. Do you trust me to show you?”

Mark nodded frantically. “Yes, of course!”

Jack moved to straddle Mark’s legs as Mark leaned back against the headboard.

“You have to tell me if something doesn’t feel good, or if you want me to stop for any reason, all right?”

“Okay,” Mark said, though he couldn’t imagine stopping. Everything he had done so far felt so good. In a moment of inspiration he took off his shirt, letting it drop over the side of the bed. He wanted to feel Jack’s skin against his own.

“Good idea.” Jack took off his own shirt and looked at Mark with a expression of curiosity. “You took off your shirt and it didn’t get tangled up in your wings at all. How’s that work?”

“They’re selectively tangible,” Mark said. “I can make them invisible too, which is handy when I’m around humans most of the time. They tend to react…oddly to seeing them.” Some humans would stare at them, or cry, or run. “Sometimes they try to touch them.”

Jack’s eyes were bright. “Do you let them? Touch your wings?”

“Oh sure! It feels nice when they do it!” Mark leaned forward a little. “Do you want to touch them?”

Jack nodded. “If you don’t mind.” He shifted forward slightly and reached around to Mark’s back, stroking his feathers. Mark closed his eyes and sighed in contentment. He imagined the feeling was like what cats felt like when they were petted. Jack’s hands moved towards where his wings joined with his back, and the sensation changed, becoming something more intense, something that made Mark groan as his penis twitched.

Jack paused and moved his hands away. “Are you okay?”

“I—I liked what you were doing,” Mark panted. “More? Please?”

Jack grinned and leaned forward to kiss Mark as his hands went back to work, massaging the base of Mark’s wings. Mark groaned into Jack’s mouth as Jack’s hips moved slowly against his, grinding against his erection. It felt like all of Mark’s nerves were firing at once, pleasure assaulting him from all sides. It was good…so good… too good.

Mark pulled away with a gasp, head almost hitting the headboard of the bed. “I need—a minute. Oh gods—“

Jack immediately let go of him and pulled back. “Too much?”

“Yes? No? It feels _amazing_ and I never want you to stop and at the same time if you didn’t stop I felt like I’d… explode or something.”

Jack grinned. “Well it’s nice to know I haven’t lost my touch.” He looked down at Mark’s lap and his eyes widened slightly. “Wow, you don’t do anything by half measures, do you?”

Mark glanced down at his erection where it bulged under his pants. “Is it too big? I could make it smaller? Or I could make myself a vagina instead? Or I could have both a penis AND a vagina. I think. Or—“

Jack chuckled and stopped Mark with a quick kiss. “You’re getting ahead of yourself. Can I take off your pants? I want to see it.”

“Oh! Sure! Go ahead!”

Within moments Mark’s pants were off and then Jack was staring at his erect penis with the expression of someone who was trying not to laugh. Mark felt anxiety bubbling in his stomach and watched as his erection began to wilt. Huh, that was interesting.

“I got it wrong, didn’t I? The pictures in the textbooks I was reading were very informative but it wasn’t enough. And I couldn’t just ask humans to show me their genitals, that would have been rude! But I found this store that sold all sorts of things, and they had replica penises! There were so many sizes! And colors!”

Jack leaned against Mark’s shoulder, his own shoulders shaking with suppressed laughter. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I’m not laughing at you, I swear I’m not. And if you modeled your cock after a sex shop dildo that at least explains the size. And the fact that it’s blue. And how it looks like silicone.”

Mark looked down at himself, frowning slightly. “So this isn’t how human penises look then?”

“Not as a rule? I mean, there are exceptions like there are people born without penises who sometimes wear silicone ones and… I’m drifting off topic. I didn’t mean to make you feel bad about your dick, I’m sorry.” Jack’s smile faded. “It’s your body, and you can make it look however you like. And I’m one to talk about the color of your cock when my own dick is bright green.”

Mark felt his mood lift slightly. “Green like Sam?”

Jack grinned. “Green like wet grass on a spring morning.”

Mark considered this. “I want it to look more realistic for my first time,” he finally said. “Could you help me? You’ve had experiences with human penises.”

“More than a few,” Jack conceded. “What do you need me to do?”

“Can you just think about some of the penises you’ve seen? If you don’t mind me reading your mind, I mean.”

“It’d be faster than trying to describe everything,” Jack said in agreement.

It wasn’t just images Jack thought in, it was smell, texture, _taste_. Mark closed his eyes and let all the information sink in, felt his body adjust accordingly. He realized the shape of his testicles had been off as well, and he felt them become more round and full. Mark opened his eyes and looked down at himself. From what he could tell, his penis now more closely resembled what some humans possessed. Later, if Jack wanted to do this again, maybe they could experiment with other shapes.

“Oh wow,” Jack breathed. “I could actually see everything changing. That was… interesting.” His hand hovered over Mark’s once flagging erection, which was now starting to reassert itself. “May I touch it?”

“Please? You can tell me if I got the texture—“ Mark’s sentence ended in a breathy moan as Jack licked his own palm and began to move his hand slowly up and down the shaft of Mark’s cock. The slippery feeling of Jack’s hand combined with the firm pressure was better than anything Mark had felt in his life.

“How does that feel?” Jack grinned, an incubus in his element.

Mark wasn’t sure what was better, the pleasure that was lighting up his nerves or the grin spread across Jack’s face. “It’s ahh-amazing,” he managed to say.

Jack was looking at Mark with an expression that was almost hungry, and that made Mark think back to one of his favorite images that Jack had shown him moments ago. “Would you put it in your mouth? Please?”

Jack’s eyes lit up as he chuckled. “You don’t have to ask me twice!” He shifted positions and then his mouth was around Mark’s cock, wetness and heat enveloping him.

Mark nearly hit his head on the headboard of the bed at the jolt of pleasure that shot up his spine. Jack pulled off with an obscene noise and looked up in concern that still managed to be tinged with a hint of a smile.

“Are you all right?”

“Don’t stop,” Mark heard himself whine. “I’m fine, don’t stop please!”

Jack obliged with a smile, head bobbing, tongue caressing Mark’s cock as Jack’s hands played with his testicles. The sensation of it all was amazing. Every time Mark thought it couldn’t get any better, Jack would do something with his mouth or his hands and the pleasure would just grow larger inside him.

Mark’s orgasm took him by surprise. He had only read about orgasms, and words were sorely lacking, he discovered. One mouth wasn’t enough to voice his pleasure so he made himself another one, which moaned as his other mouth spoke words in a long forgotten tongue, or perhaps just gibberish, as Jack swallowed around him.

It took Mark a while to come back to himself, and for a moment his harsh panting was the only sound in the room. Then he realized that there was wetness against his thigh, and the sound of quiet sniffling. Mark opened his eyes and saw Jack, head resting on his thigh, with tears streaming down his face. His stomach immediately sank as his erection softened.

“Oh no! Are you okay? Did I do something wrong? Does my semen taste bad?”

Jack climbed up Mark and put his arms around him, laying his head on Mark’s chest. He looked up at Mark, tears still streaming down his face, but he was grinning now.

“Shhhh, you’re fine, you didn’t do anything wrong. It’s just like… it’s like I forgot how _good_ sex feels when I’m not worried about Anti being in the back of my head, when I’m not exhausted from trying to stay awake. And you taste _amazing._ It’s like… humans are a banquet and you’re one of those complicated fancy desserts at the end. The kind with layers.” Jack laughed, then leaned up to kiss Mark’s second mouth. “You’d think I was the one who had the orgasm, with all my babbling.”

“I want to give you an orgasm. Can I? Can I put you in my mouth? It felt incredible when you did that. I want to make you feel like that too.” Mark felt like he was talking too fast, but he didn’t care.

Jack smiled and straightened up, wiping away his tears with the back of his hand. “Sure, just let me—“ He wiggled out of his pants, no underwear to be seen. Where Mark had been expecting a cock not that dissimilar to his own there was only a slit. Jack looked down at himself and sighed. “It’s being shy.”

Mark eyed the slit with curiosity, running a finger down the flushed lips. Something peeked out from the slit, as green as grass.

“Oh! Yours is different than mine!” Mark moved so that he was eye level with Jack’s crotch. “Hey there! Hi!”

Jack covered his face with one hand. “Oh gods Mark, don’t baby talk at my junk please. It can’t hear you.”

More of Jack’s dick emerged, the thick green tentacle dripping some sort of clear slime. Mark leaned forward and licked the tip of it, tasted electricity on his tongue. Jack moaned, his hands going to Mark’s shoulders.

“You have to be careful. It kind of has a mind of its own. I don’t know what your gag reflex is like—“

“I don’t think I have one of those,” Mark said, and then his mouth was around Jack’s dick, as much as could fit anyway. He tried bobbing his head, but that seemed like something that worked better with a dick that didn’t constantly move around. Instead he relaxed, let the tentacle explore his mouth, his throat. He was right, he didn’t have a gag reflex. His tongue danced around the tentacle in his mouth, and it was pleasant, but not as pleasant as the noises Jack was making.

“Gahhh, how are you so good at this?” Jack’s hands drifted up to the top of Mark’s head, resting there.

_You can pull my hair, if you like. I’ve heard that pain can sometimes be enjoyable,_ Mark thought at Jack.

Jack chuckled and threaded his hands through Mark’s hair. “Best use of telepathy ever.” He pulled gently on Mark’s hair, then a little harder when Mark moaned around the dick in his mouth.

_That feels good. And you taste amazing._ Mark could feel himself growing hard again. He had been told that the bodily fluids of an incubus were an aphrodisiac, but he was sure that he would be feeling this way regardless. He felt Jack’s dick rub against the back of his throat and he swallowed reflexively, surprised when Jack let out a moan that was almost a shout.

“Oh gods,” Jack moaned. “I love this, I do, but I-I- want to be inside you.”

_You already are,_ Mark said, as if he didn’t know what Jack meant, as if Jack wasn’t thinking about it so hard that Mark could pick it up without having to search for it.

Jack pulled Mark off of him, his tentacle dick waving lazily in the air. He was panting hard. “I want to be inside your asshole, you asshole,” Jack said with a grin.

“Oh right, I knew I forgot to make myself something,” Mark said as he lay back on the bed and concentrated.

“You made yourself a prostate but not an asshole? How did you forget that?”

“Well it’s not like I normally need one.”

Jack knelt between Mark’s legs with a thoughtful expression. “Wait, I know you eat physical food, you talk about it all the time. Where does it go if not—“

“Oh, I just convert that straight into energy. Seemed more efficient that way.”

“Huh.” Jack messily sucked on his fingers, a sight that made Mark’s heart pound with anticipation. “I’m going to go slow, okay?” He rested one finger at the rim of Mark’s hole. “Tell me if you feel uncomfortable or if it hurts, all right?”

“I will,” Mark promised, and then Jack was very slowly sliding a finger into him and Mark was busy concentrating on the feeling. It was… interesting. Not bad, but not pleasurable in and of itself, just another new sensation. He looked up at Jack, who was watching him intently. “It’s okay I guess?”

Jack nodded. “Well how about if I do—“ Jack did something with his finger and Mark bellowed, clawing at the sheets in his attempt to grab onto something, anything. It was astounding the pleasure that the stimulation of human nerves could provide!

“Was—was that my prostate?” Mark panted as soon as his brain could formulate actual words.

Jack grinned. “Yup! Was it everything you hoped for?”

Mark rolled his hips, trying to get Jack to hit that spot again. “More! Please? Again?”

Jack leaned down and kissed Mark on the lips. “How about we add another finger first?”

Mark nodded frantically as Jack slowly added another finger. Mark could feel the stretch now, and he welcomed it as Jack prodded at his prostate again. By the time Jack added a third finger Mark was more than ready, shaking and moaning.

“You’re so beautiful,” Jack said with a fond smile. “You know that, right? You ready for me? You feel ready for me.”

“So ready.” Mark nearly whined when Jack removed his fingers, only to moan when he felt Jack’s dick prodding at his entrance before slowly sliding inside. It was warm and slick, sliding into him easily, and Jack gave a shaky sigh once he was fully inside Mark, leaning forward and resting his forehead against Mark’s.

“You feel so good,” Jack breathed. “So hot and tight and soft inside.”

Mark reveled in the sensation of feeling so full, as Jack’s dick twisted and moved inside him. He cried out softly when the tentacle rubbed gently at his prostate, teasing. How did humans get anything done if sex could feel this good? “I want—I want to do this to you,” Mark panted. “I want to do everything to you—with you—“

“We have time.” Jack’s voice was soft and full of wonder, as if he could hardly believe it. “All the time we need.” There was light playing over his skin, white edged with blue, like lightning.

Mark reached up to touch Jack’s face, then groaned and clung to Jack’s back instead. “Jack, I—I think it’s going to happen again.”

“I can feel you clenching around me,” Jack panted. “Gonna come for me? I’ll never be hungry again, not with you here. Please Mark, please please please—-“

Mark clung to Jack’s back as the pleasure consumed him utterly. Above him he heard Jack cry out, the harmonics of his voice strange and yet familiar. All he could focus on was the pleasure in his veins, like fire and flood and windstorm all at once as he rode out his orgasm, as Jack clung to him like he was afraid that Mark would be taken away from him.

_I’m here_ , Mark thought. _I’m here and I’m not going to let you go, not ever._ He opened his eyes as he started coming down from his orgasm and saw Jack looking back at him with six blue eyes, two mouths and a pair of wings that were literally glowing. Mark’s first thought was that the orgasm had been so good that it had caused him to hallucinate, but when he reached up to touch Jack’s face, the extra features remained.

“Mark?” Jack said with one mouth while at the same time also saying, “what’s going on?” with his other mouth. Jack clapped a hand over his second mouth, all his eyes wide.

“I think,” Mark said slowly. “That there may have been some unforeseen side effects to giving you part of my soul.”

There was stunned silence for a moment or two, then Jack leaned back, slipping out of Mark, and he started to laugh. It wasn’t hysterical laughter, or laughter tinged with fear, but something like honest to gods joy. “Oh wow!” Jack stretched out one wing, craning to look at it. It was like trying to look at lightning, something electric and beautiful. “I mean, the extra eyes and mouths are maybe a bit much, but these wings are totally awesome!”

Mark tried to think about how he changed his shape, but it was like trying to think about how to blink. “I think if you just focus on how you want to look, those will go away.” He yawned, peaceful exhaustion settling over him. “You’re not upset? That what I did changed you?”

Jack’s laughter trailed off as he leaned over and gave Mark a long, tender kiss. When he pulled away he had his usual amount of eyes and mouths, but the wings remained. “You helped save my life, I no longer have a homicidal who even know what in my head or my soul or whatever, and I have a part of you with me always. Why would I be upset about getting some sweet new body parts?”

Mark yawned again and smiled, sinking back into the bed and closing his eyes. There was sweat and semen drying on his skin, but he was just so very tired. So many things had happened in the past few nights. He was dimly aware of Jack moving around the room, of Jack cleaning the worse of the mess with a damp cloth, and then Jack was curled up next to him. Mark reached out to hold him, noting that the wings were gone.

Jack snuggled into Mark’s chest. “Do you think that’ll happen every time I have an orgasm now? All those extra bits? Or maybe that can even happen without the orgasm part?”

_“_ I don’t know,” Mark said, mumbling into the top of Jack’s head. “But we have time to figure it out. All the time in the world.”


	7. Chapter 7

“You’re an idiot.”

Anti woke slowly, his eyes still closed, trying to sort out the sensations his new body was feeling. Being inside Jack he had always felt things at a slight remove, the sensations muffled by flesh that wasn’t actually his. This though, this body was _his_ , made from the energy Anti had stolen from Jack. He could feel the softness of sheets against his skin, the heavy weight of blankets.

“You are an impatient, impulsive _child._ ” The tone of the voice Anti was hearing was deep, jagged with feeling, rough with exhaustion. He knew that voice like he knew his own true name. He opened his eyes.

Dark was sitting next to his bedside, head in his hands. His suit was perfect, because of course it was, but his hair was mussed by the hands currently tangled in it. Behind him the shadows writhed and boiled.

“It worked, didn’t it? That’s the important bit.”

Dark’s head shot up, and the first thing Anti noticed were the circles under his eyes, deep as the void between stars. Dark’s lips twisted into something that seemed to be a smile and a snarl all at once. “You—“ That was a far as Dark got before Anti surged up and kissed him.

It was a teeth clashing kiss, and Anti could taste blood and stars on his tongue as it scraped against Dark’s teeth. Dark moaned into his mouth and Anti could feel Dark’s hands on him, clutching at him desperately. Anti tugged at Dark, pulling him onto the bed. He wanted to be inside Dark, crawl under his skin, have it be like it was before, when they had been one being of energy and light, before they had grown into separate consciousnesses and the need for physical bodies, in the way of their kind. Anti wondered idly if any of the other personalties that had been a part of their energy had survived, but that was a question for another time.

Dark pulled back, breathing hard. Anti grinned up at him, his hands tearing at Dark’s clothes. “I missed you too.”

Dark’s clothes simply vanished as he threw the covers back, and then they were pressed skin to skin, Dark’s erection hard and hot against him as Dark’s hands roamed Anti’s body like they were trying to map every inch of him.

“Do you know what it was like, knowing you were trapped and not being able to help you?” That was the way of their kind of being. You found your own host, took their soul’s energy and crafted a body from it, all on your own. If something went wrong, you were either strong enough to fix it or you died.

“Just because you got lucky with your host,” Anti groaned as his own hands roamed Dark’s body. Demons sideways he’d be happy if he never had to stop touching Dark.

“I went through four hosts before I found the angel,” Dark said in between kissing Anti. “None of the incubi were strong enough to contain me, though they did taint me with an inconvenient need for sexual energy. If only I had found the angel first.” Dark smirked. “He was so empty, before I filled him up. Someone’s discarded idea of an angel. I wonder if it would bother him, to know that is all he is.”

Anti let out a bark of a laugh. “Him? Nothing phases him. He’d probably say that we were all someone’s idea or something.” There was an emptiness inside him. Was that hunger? He reached down and grabbed Dark’s dick. It was hard and hot, the head already slick. Anti ran his hand up and down the shaft as Dark moaned in his ear. “Have you been thinking about me all this time, Dark? I’ve been thinking about you. Every second I was trapped inside that body was torture.”

Dark groaned, and around him the shadows shifted and moved, brushing over Anti’s skin, dragging against it like velvet. “I barely let the humans touch me. I needed them to sate my hunger but all I could think about was you.”

Anti felt something inside him uncoil in a rush of heat, the tentacle that was his dick sliding out of him for the first time. It squirmed in the space between their two bodies and Anti groaned at the sensation of it sliding along Dark’s skin.

Dark grinned above him even as he moaned. “Do you want me in you?”

“I want you in me, I want me in you, I want everything.”

“You always were the greedy one.” Dark leaned down and kissed Anti again before pulling away, nearly breathless. “We have time now. Time enough for everything.”

One of the benefits of being an incubus meant that your body was ready for anything sexual in an instant. Dark slid into Anti easily, as if they had been made to fit together. There was a kind of mental ecstasy in that, and both Anti and Dark shuddered with the sensation of it as they moved against each other.

Anti had never really been present in the forefront of Jack’s mind while the other had sated his own sexual needs, though he had taken pleasure in telling Jack that he had. All the sensations he was feeling now were new, nearly overwhelming. His hands curled around Dark’s back, pressing hard enough to leave bruises, he was sure. He watched the shadows above Dark rise and form wings as two sets of eyes appeared above and below Dark’s original pair, the part of Dark that was an angel asserting itself.

“Can you—change other things too?” Anti panted as Dark thrust into him. “Mark told Jack he made himself a dick. Could you like, give yourself a pussy?”

“I haven’t had the urge to try,” Dark said dryly.

“That’s because you’re so static,” Anti said. “Always have been.”

“And you’re chaotic, impulsive, slave to your own whims. You could have died, ripping yourself free from him.” Dark thrust faster, harder.

“And I would have died if I had stayed, drowned in that tar pit of a soul. Not that I let them know that.” Anti’s hands clawed at Dark’s back. Pleasure was sparking along his nerves as electricity danced along his skin, blue white arcs crawling over Dark, caressing him like Dark’s shadows were caressing Anti.

Anti clung harder to Dark as he felt his orgasm begin to overtake him, and suddenly just having his arms and legs wrapped around him wasn’t enough. He sank his teeth into Dark’s shoulder, tasted blood and smoke and stars on his tongue as the pleasure tore through him, as he cried out against Dark’s skin. Dark convulsed above him, crying out, and then Anti felt something filling him, something warm and rich and dark, filling him until he was past full.

Sleepy and overstuffed, Anti clung to Dark when he made to pull out. “Don’t.”

Dark chuckled, a sound that was almost fond. He shifted position until, still joined, they lay together on the bed heedless of blood or various sexual fluids.

“When you wake up, we should go find some mortals to feed off of,” Dark said. “We still need human sexual energy, as lovely as this is.”

Anti buried his head in the crook of Dark’s neck. “Can we do it together?”

Anti actually heard Dark grin. “The mortal world won’t know what hit them.”

Anti felt himself drifting off to sleep, finally surrounded by the one he most wanted to be surrounded by.


End file.
